The Vegetarian Resource Group offers No Cholesterol Passover Recipes, by Debra Wasserman. This book features 100 vegan dishes following Ashkenazi Jewish traditions suitable for Passover. Among the recipes you’ll find in this book are Passover Muffins, Carrot Cream Soup, Eggplant Caviar, Chopped “Liver” Spread, Sweet Potato Kugel, Layered Vegetable Casserole, Stuffed Cabbage, Fruit-Nut Chews, and Festive Macaroons.

Vegans celebrating Passover might want to try out these recipes:

Romanian Kohlrabi Soup – From The Lowfat Jewish Vegetarian Cookbook
(Serves 8)

2 kohlrabi, peeled and diced
Small head of cauliflower, chopped
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
Small onion, peeled and finely chopped
½ cup fresh dill, finely chopped
½ cup fresh parsley, finely chopped
2 teaspoons oil
Salt and pepper to taste
1 Tablespoon potato starch
11 cups water
½ cup lemon juice or sauerkraut juice
15-ounce can tomato sauce

Stir-fry kohlrabi, cauliflower, carrots, onion, dill, and parsley in oil over medium heat in a large pot for 5 minutes. Add seasonings. Dissolve cornstarch in 1 cup water then add to the pot along with remaining 10 cups of water. Bring to a boil then simmer covered for 30 minutes. Add lemon juice and tomato sauce and simmer another 15 minutes. Serve soup hot or chilled.

Sweet Potato Kugel – from No Cholesterol Passover Recipes
(Serves 12)

6 small sweet potatoes, peeled and grated
3 apples, peeled and grated
1 cup raisins
1 cup matzo meal
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 cup walnuts, chopped (optional)
1 cup fruit juice or water

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix ingredients together. Press into large flat baking dish. Bake 45 minutes at 375 degrees until crisp on top. Serve warm.

The Lowfat Jewish Vegetarian Cookbook and No Cholesterol Passover Recipes are both vegan cookbooks published by The Vegetarian Resource Group and can be ordered by calling (410) 366-8343 (9am to 5pm Mon-Fri) or online at http://www.vrg.org/catalog/

By Cyril Gittens

Basic psychology tells us that we prefer to be friends with people who
have similar characteristics. This may be part of the reason why some
vegetarians want to meet other vegetarians. Depending on your school, it
could be hard to find other students that follow this lifestyle. If you
just observe the food that is on most plates at your high school or
middle school cafeteria, you’ll notice that vegetables are scarce, for
the most part. However, there are a few people in most schools that
think differently. These students have made a leap of faith and have
decided to discontinue eating animal-based products. Maybe they are
vegetarian for health reasons, or have certain moral/ethical beliefs, or
maybe they just want to be different.

When I was in high school and wanted to socialize and connect with other
like-minded people, I used some creative techniques to accomplish my
goal. Even though I only met a small handful of vegetarians, they turned
out to be good friends and are still my friends today. In high school, I
asked people if they were vegetarian when I noticed that they always
brought their homemade lunch with large plates of salad or tofu with
other vegetarian goods to the cafeteria. I started with a question to
see if they were vegetarian or not and then I just continued the
conversation if they were a veggie head. I would ask, “What do you eat
for snacks?” or “Does your family eat similar to you?” After we
had a solid conversation, I would continue to socialize and connect
with them.

The bottom line is to just ask people if they are vegetarian if you
sense that they follow similar lifestyle choices as you. You could also
talk with your school principal or representative about starting an
ethics/animal rights club. This would be another way to meet vegetarian
students.

By Jeanne Yacoubou, MS
VRG Research Director

Recently a Papa John’s patron relayed to The Vegetarian Resource Group some
information she had received in an email response from Papa John’s about a
few of their ingredients in the pizza dough and the desserts. This brought up
questions concerning whether the items were vegetarian. In March 2014 we asked
the Research & Development Department at Papa John’s about these ingredients.

Here is the Papa John’s ingredient statement for the Original Dough:

Pizza Dough: unbleached enriched wheat flour (wheat flour, malted barley
flour, wheat starch, ascorbic acid, enzyme, niacin, iron as ferrous
sulfate, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), water, sugar,
soybean oil, salt, yeast [fungal or bacterial derivatives – NO animal
derivatives]. No trans fat.

This is the prompt response we received by email from Papa John’s:

The enzyme in the unbleached enriched wheat flour (per the enzyme
supplier) contains neither animal components nor animal-derived
ingredients… There are no egg or milk products in our [Original] Dough
formula.

Papa John’s supplied more information regarding the “fungal- or
bacterial-derived” yeast used in the Original Dough:
The yeast supplier lists the yeast status as “acceptable for vegan
diets.” The supplier further states “No animal products used in the
manufacturing process for the yeast or the raw materials.”

Here are Papa John’s ingredients statements for their icing and
chocolate chip cookie:

Icing (White): sugar, water, corn syrup, stearic acid, artificial color
(titanium dioxide), agar, salt, potassium sorbate (preservative), guar
gum, pectin, dextrose, citric acid, sodium hexametaphosphate, natural
and artificial flavor. (NO animal products)

Chocolate Chip Cookie: chocolate chips (sugar, unsweetened chocolate,
cocoa butter, milkfat, soy lecithin [an emulsifier], vanillin [an
artificial flavor], enriched flour (bleached wheat flour, malted barley
flour, niacin, iron, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, and folic acid),
margarine (palm oil, water, soybean oil, salt, whey solids, vegetable
mono- and diglycerides, soy lecithin, artificial flavor, beta carotene
[color], vitamin A palmitate added), sugar, brown sugar, pasteurized
whole eggs, leavening (baking soda, sodium acid pyrophosphate,
monocalcium phosphate), salt, artificial flavor, caramel color.

When The VRG asked Papa John’s to confirm that the stearic acid and
cookie ingredients were vegetarian because the ingredient statements
suggest that they are, we were told:

The stearic acid (per the icing supplier) has no animal products in it.
The stearic acid is kosher. In addition, the white drizzle icing has no
animal products in any of the ingredients and it is also kosher. There
is no egg, milk or honey in the icing.

Concerning the chocolate chip cookie served at Papa John’s, The VRG was
informed:

The cookie contains pasteurized whole eggs in the dough, as well as
white and brown sugar. It does not contain honey or milk. However, the
margarine used contains whey powder. The cookie dough supplier has
confirmed the cookie is acceptable for a vegetarian diet but not a vegan
diet.

Click here for our most recent update on Papa John’s.
For more information about Papa John’s, readers may visit www.papajohns.com
For more information on fast food and quick casual restaurant chains
visit: The VRG website.

The contents of this article, our website, and our other publications,
including The Vegetarian Journal, are not intended to provide personal
medical advice. Medical advice should be obtained from a qualified
health professional. We often depend on product and ingredient
information from company employees or company statements. Information
does change and mistakes are always possible. Please use your own best
judgment about whether a product is suitable for you. Further research
or confirmation may be warranted.